Evan Baum, Miles Jackson, and Elizabeth Pringle
Alumni support has long played a crucial role in the continued success and growth of the Commerce School, with graduates from recent years well represented and eager to engage with McIntire in many ways. As three distinguished young alumni, Evan Baum, Miles Jackson, and Elizabeth Pringle, can attest, the profound impact of the Commerce School on their professional lives has been equaled only by their ongoing commitment to give back to the School, ensuring that current and future students will also benefit from its unmatched programs, learning experiences, and facilities that are home to a world-class faculty and staff.
Baum started out on the investment banking side of the industry as an Analyst at RBC Capital Markets in New York, pivoting to Allianz Real Estate as the sole Analyst on its U.S. Equity Investments team during a two-year span. In 2017, he made the move to Ares Management Corporation, where he’s responsible for originating new investments as a Principal, focused on U.S. diversified real estate equity.
Jackson’s professional path, while different from Baum’s, would eventually cross with his. Jackson began as an Analyst at J.P. Morgan in New York for two years and served as an Associate in BlackRock’s Private Credit Group for a year and a half, before, like Baum, deciding to join Ares Management. During the last four years, he has advanced to a Vice President in its Direct Lending Credit Group.
Pringle’s experience during her third-year summer interning in the Leveraged Finance Group at Bank of America in Charlotte, NC, led to two years working there in its analyst program. A move to Boston to work in middle-market private equity at BV Investment Partners LP rekindled an interest in private equity that she first discovered in a course on the subject co-taught by Professor Felicia Marston. While she would stay with the New England-based firm until June 2023, the pandemic provided time for her to reflect on her goals; she decided to pursue her MBA at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania to expand upon her existing industry knowledge and cultivate deeper strategic and operational expertise.
We spoke to these three alumni about how the professional success and experiences they’ve had have inspired them to stay engaged and give to support different critical initiatives that reflect what’s most important to each of them as they safeguard the future of the Commerce School.
A Network Like No Other
Pringle freely credits McIntire with a “significant portion” of her professional success, pointing to its academic rigor and avenues for interacting with industry experts who broadened her perspectives. But she found that the Comm School’s reputation and network offered her a great professional advantage: “On the recruiting side, the School’s connections and resources facilitated introductions to key players in the field and helped me secure opportunities that otherwise might have been out of reach. The support and mentorship from the faculty and alumni network have been instrumental in my career trajectory.”
Jackson, too, admits that McIntire has been an outsized positive force in honing his analytical acuity and advancing his career, but like Pringle, he points to the community on Grounds that extended into life after UVA when he relocated to New York.
“Today, I often leverage some of that same McIntire network, whether for potential financing opportunity introductions, career advice, or even connectivity with current students, given my role helping to recruit new investment team hires at my firm,” says Jackson.
Similarly grateful for an academic experience that was highlighted by an introduction to real estate through Professor George Overstreet in his fourth year and coupled with the many friendships he cultivated at the Comm School, Baum doesn’t hold back about the benefits he’s enjoyed. He thanks the wide-ranging network that traces back to time spent at Rouss & Robertson Halls. “Since graduating, I’ve worked at three different organizations, and all three roles were not sourced through company websites or headhunters or recruiters, but instead through McIntire alumni at each of the organizations, which speaks to how McIntire alumni try to help one another,” he says.
Seeing the positive results of his education and everything that came with it, Baum was quick to support the School, having a history of giving back while he was still a student and of engagement in multiple areas. “I joined the fundraising committee as a fourth-year trustee and ultimately joined the McIntire Young Alumni Council (MYAC) shortly before graduation,” he recalls. “For the past eight years, I co-chaired the fundraising committee for MYAC and most recently, have joined the Advisory Board for the White Ruffin Byron Center for Real Estate.”
He is clear about how the Commerce School and its alumni network have been key to the progression of his career. And Baum is intent on returning the favor for those with the drive to be a part of his industry: “I am passionate about providing similar opportunities to current students and other alumni who are interested in real estate.”
Jackson also credits McIntire and its network for access to mentorship and more. “As a student, I was fortunate enough to benefit from extremely helpful alumni mentors, as well as benefit via curriculum and programming that were in many ways made possible by generous alumni who chose to contribute financially,” he says. Their generosity made a lasting impression on him that he now emulates through his own engagement with the Comm School. “With that in mind, it feels great to play my own role now as an alum, supporting McIntire as a mentor to students, financial contributor, as well as adviser to administration via the McIntire Young Alumni Council. Furthermore, McIntire’s successful accomplishment of its ambitious goals for expansion and continued curriculum excellence will ultimately enhance the prestige and value of the School, in turn benefiting all of us who are fortunate enough to have a McIntire degree.”
Pringle has also been adamant about the peerless quality of her time as a Comm student and her dedication to continue that virtuous cycle that those who graduated before her helped establish. “As a McIntire alum, I am extremely grateful for the education and experiences I received. I have chosen to give back in several meaningful ways, driven by a deep conviction in the importance of supporting future generations of students. One of the most tangible ways I have chosen to give back is through financial contributions from the K.T. Wiedemann Foundation,” she says, explaining that the gifts have been directed toward both the School’s Annual Fund and McIntire Expansion Project. “The Annual Fund provides critical resources to support ongoing programs as well as faculty development and retention. My undergraduate experience would not have been the same without the commitment and dedication of McIntire’s world-class faculty,” she says.
Additionally, she sees her contributions to the construction of new Shumway Hall, renovated Cobb Hall, and the environment surrounding them as a testament to her steadfast belief in the School’s overall continued development.
Various Interests, One Goal
Pringle wants her support to empower students—plain and simple. She aims to provide them with vital resources to thrive in their academics as well as their nascent professional lives, while considering the McIntire Expansion Project as much more than just the addition of necessary classrooms and offices: “McIntire is much more than a physical space; it is an open and welcoming environment for students to study, collaborate, and engage with each other. This project will undoubtedly make a lasting impact on the future of McIntire and its students, and I am excited to be a part of it,” she says. “I am motivated to give back to McIntire to ensure that students continue to have access to such transformative experiences and opportunities, just as I did.”
The financial aspect is only one important way Pringle engages with the School, as she reflects fondly on the informal mentoring that she has given to students. “Another significant aspect of my involvement,” she says, “has been spearheading McIntire and female recruiting efforts, as promoting diversity and inclusion within the financial industry has become increasingly important to me.”
Jackson is interested in diversifying his area of the finance industry as well. “Given my background as a Black man who works in alternative investing, I have tried to contribute significantly, both financially and via mentorship time, to support programs and initiatives that open the door to high-finance opportunities for people from underrepresented minority backgrounds,” he says. “I’m a strong believer in the idea that success is found at the intersection of hard work and opportunity, and it’s truly fulfilling to play a role in increasing potential career opportunities for hard-working McIntire students.”
In the long run, Jackson hopes that McIntire will become more well known within the broader academic and professional spheres as a distinguished champion of efforts that reflect an increasingly diverse student body that creates a more diverse set of future business leaders. “I am confident that McIntire can continue to make progress on this front, while also maintaining its highly ranked pedigree and respect as a leading business program.”
For his part, Baum has been intentional in helping advance the mission of the White Ruffin Byron Center for Real Estate and its part in promoting career opportunities in the extensive industry and the University’s part in it: “I hope that we are able to enrich the student and alumni experience through new and engaging learning opportunities, both in and out of the classroom, and that ultimately, UVA becomes recognized as a leading global academic institution for producing top real estate sector talent.”
He’s also a loyal supporter of the School because he is intent on seeing that transformative experience passed on to the next generation.
“A lot of things in life are transient, but I’ve chosen to ensure that my education at UVA is not fleeting,” Baum says. “By remaining an active part of the McIntire community, I am fortunate to have the opportunity to continue to learn at the University and through our unique alumni network, and hope at the very least that I can encourage some of my peers to do the same.”
The most fulfilling aspect of being an active McIntire community participant for Pringle is being part of a larger group all focused and excited by the Comm School’s success—success made possible through the dedicated efforts of many. “It is inspiring to be part of a community that is dedicated to advancing the field of business education, fostering innovation, and creating opportunities for students to excel,” she says.
